This essay aims at clarifying the essence of mystical experience in the main universal religions. To
this effect, the author investigates the notion of ‘detachment’ and, from this, conducts a comparative
analysis of the modes of detachment actually experimented in some religions as well as in philosophic
practice. This is verified through an identification of the specific, paradoxical logic which is
typical of any mystic attitude. The essay then aims at a more rigorous characterization of mystic experience,
by differentiating it from the realm of ethics and by showing the likely consequences of a
mystical approach to politics.